Dan Lococo

Helping Organizations Move from Performative to Structural Inclusion

If things were different things would be different

Written by

Dan Lococo, PhD

I am sharing a story that I revisited after seeing it shared recently on Twitter (now X). I had reviewed the article when it was originally posted in 2013. I’ve added some perspective and context based on my research and experience since then. I hope you find it a thoughtful read. Your comments and questions are always welcome.

Note: These posts regularly form the basis for roundtable conversations, facilitation, and group presentations. For more information, please pcontact me

In this post:

 

Story: If things were different, things would be different

I recently ran across a Twitter (now X) post from Frank Luntz stating, “Every month, 14 million people now get a disability check from the government.” The post included a link to a story about ways people end up on the Social Security Administration’s Disability Insurance program. I found the story to be both compelling and familiar. The story, “Unfit for Work: The startling rise of disability in America,” by Chana Joffe-Walt was originally posted in 2013. It provides a good description of functional and socio/political disability without ever using the terms.

At the time of the story, 14 million people received a monthly check through the Social Security Disability Insurance program. As of May, 2025 11.3 million individuals receive benefits from the insurance program. The story chronicles the fact that one person may be determined to have a disability while a person with similar medical circumstances is not considered to have a disability. A physician featured in the story considers educational attainment as part of his evaluation of individuals for disability benefits.

The story goes on to point out that the Social Security Disability Insurance program serves to obscure unemployment figures and costs. Individuals who acquire a disabling condition after being employed are identified on statistical records as “disabled” rather than “unemployed,” even though other individuals, with the same medical condition, are employed. The story describes the industry that has been built around defending disability insurance claims and in moving individuals from State funded unemployment insurance programs to the Federally funded Social Security Administration.

The article does a good job of illustrating the intersection of environment, function, and physical limitations. I was first introduced to the concept of models of disability from a paper by Julie Smart. Smart describes a variety of lenses for looking at disability. Among these are the medical, functional, and socio/political. The medical model of disability is commonly used as an indicator of disability. A doctor, or other specialist, uses a set of criteria to diagnose if an individual is considered to have a disability. The Social Security Administration defines disability as, “the inability to do any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death, or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.” For example, statutory blindness is determined to be visual acuity of 200/20 or less in the better eye or less than 20 degrees of visual field. This is useful as a diagnosis but is not an indicator of ability.

The functional model of disability focuses on situational factors that pose barriers to accomplishment by certain individuals. For example, I cannot visually process printed text on paper or on an electronic device because I don’t see. This is a consequence of a disabling condition (blindness). Using text to speech technology allows me to generally read and write without a need to rely on visual cues. In this context I am still blind but disabled? That is another question.

In the story Frank Luntz referred to in his Tweet, a judge failed to recognize that back pain and diabetes are not barriers to being a judge. If the person before the judge had a law degree, he may not have had a disability either. The doctor who asks about educational attainment as part of disability evaluations recognizes the impact education has on the type of work individuals can access.

Another perspective on disability is referred to as the socio/political model of disability. This model focuses on social norms and political decisions. For example, unemployment compensation programs are fully funded by employers in all but three states. The story points out that individuals who are identified as having a disability are not considered to be unemployed in statistical data. Moving individuals off state managed unemployment systems, onto Social Security Disability Insurance programs, has the impact of transferring costs from state to federal funding sources, reducing costs for states and businesses. To an uninformed onlooker, this may look like cost savings rather than cost shuffling. The separation of unemployment statistics from disability statistics is a policy choice.

Similarly, the Executive Branch has the authority to decide whether discrimination towards persons with disabilities should be allowed or not. For example, On May 16, 2025, the Department of Energy posted a rule change, “Rescinding New Construction Requirements Related to Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs or Activities” Docket (DOE-HQ-2025-0015. This rule change has the impact of changing the definition of the phrase, “Open to the public” as it applies to persons with disabilities.

One conclusion that could be drawn from the story is that there are many people receiving disability insurance benefits who are not actually disabled. Another conclusion might be that we are failing to address dynamic changes in the labor force and structure of work. Another conclusion might be that if businesses had greater responsibility for the cost of shedding employees they would be more open to employee retention. Another conclusion might be to take the phrase, “open to the public” more seriously. Finally, we could acknowledge that if things were different, things would be different, and we could make that difference.

References

 

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